Climate Zones for Kids
Types of climate zones
Have you ever wondered why Africa has summer season throughout the year whereas it is always cold in polar regions! Why certain type of crops and fruits grow in one part of the world! And why kangaroos and koalas are found only in Australia!
All of this happens because earth has different climate zones. A climate zone is an area where the pattern if weather is different from the other part of the world.
This pattern of weather is responsible for the type of plant and animal life of that climate zone. And plant and animal life further decides the food habits of the people living in that area.
Why we have different climate zones?
The Earth’s climate is driven by heat received from the sun which arrives in the form of sunlight. But the sunlight is not equally distributed across the Earth.
It is due to the shape of the Earth. The Earth is a sphere, hence few of the places get direct sunlight whereas some parts receive slanted sunlight.
The places which get direct sunlight are hotter than the places that get slanted sunlight.
And this results into the Earth having different weather patterns in different places. The places with distinct weather patterns are known as climate zones.
Three climate zones
Earth has three main climate zones—
1.Tropical
2.Temperate
3. Polar or cold
Difference among climate zones
Tropical:
Here sunlight reaches the ground nearly vertically at noontime during almost the entire year.
Thereby, it is very warm in these areas. And due to high temperatures, more water evaporates. The air is often moist. This results in dense and frequent cloud cover. This cloud cover reduces the effect of sunlight on ground temperature.
Temperate:
Here sunlight reaches with a smaller angle. That is why these places are cooler than tropical areas.
Polar or Cold Zones
Polar climates are cold and dry because these areas receive very less sunlight. These places have long and dark winters. Very few plants grow here due to lack of sunlight. It is very hard to live in these areas because of extreme weather conditions.
In this animated video, two kids discuss about different climate zones in an interesting and simple way. They also talk about the factor affecting these climate zones.Teachers can use this video for home schooling as well as to teach the students in the class room.